Dirigible headlight.



L. l. WOGENSTAHL. DlRlGlBLE HEADLIGHT. APPLICATION FILED APR. 24 1914 Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

T/V' l'l u-eses LEO JOSEPH WOGENS 'I'AHL, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC SEARCH LIGHT COMPANY, OF PHOENIX, ARIZONA, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

DIRIGIBLE HEADLIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LEO J. WOGENSTAHL, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of, Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dirigible Headlights, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the action of the lamp spindle, the said mechanism Fig. 1. Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional vcompanying drawing.

One of the objects of'the invention is to provide in combination lamp carrying spindles having.means which cause them to rise and fall when they are turned and spindle driving gearing so positioned and construced that the rising and falling movement is not interfered;'with..

Anotherv object is to provide an improved mechanism for preventing oscillatory vibraconstantly causing the rising and falling movement above referred to.

A further object is toprovide an improved mountingfor the lamp carrying arms Wl'llCll permits the adjustment of both of them bodily laterally or the-adjustment ofone of them' with respect to the "other to provlde for lamps of different sizes.

Further objects will be apparent from the following specification and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view showing in central vertical section a lamp and its intermediate attachments, taken on the line 11 of Fig. 3. Fig.2'is a top plan view of part of the body frame, the front running gear and the lamp system of-an automobile embodying my improvements. Fig. 3 is a side view of some of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of one of the elements whichcontrols the; movements of the lamp bracket. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the part shown in Fig. 4. I Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing on 'an enlarged scale some of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken at right anglesto the view appearing in Fig. 6. 1 Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of one of the operating levers. Fig. 9 is a fragmentary plan view showing partsof the lamp carrying arms. .Fig. 10 is a crosssectional view taken along the line 1010 of view taken along the line 11-11 of Fig. 3. Fig. 12 is a detail view showing the end of the operating rod.

A part of the framework of the automohardened steel. interior of the tubular upright and is forced bile body ,is indicated, the showing being Patented Feb. '6, 1917.

to the devices for manually effecting the.

steering. V

7 is a vertically arranged crank at the outer end of the rock shaft 7 a which is mounted in a suitable bracket 7 b on the main frame. This shaft 7 carries a worm gear segment 8. With this meshes the worm 9 of the steering shaft 10 which is shown as extending up in an ordinary manner at an in- I clination toward the seat of the driver and is provided at the upper end with a hand wheel.

12 is a connecting rod or link that extends forward from the crank arm 7 for the purpose of transmitting manually exerted power for the adjusting and controlling of the positions of the parts of thelamp system. The rear end of. the rod is provided with an elongated eye which receives'a stud or boss on the clamp 7 a secured to the arm 7. By means of the elongated eye a limited amount of lost motion is provided.

There are two lamps each indicated by 25 and which so vfar as concern many of their details may be of any of the ordinary or well known forms.

In my apparatus each lamp is mounted in a peculiarly constructed bracket system constructed as follows: 13 indicates a tubular standard or upright which is secured to a sill bar 1 of the frame. This upright or standard can be castwith a downward extending tubular bracket piece 13 which is preferably arranged'on the outside of the frame sill; Or, if preferred, the tubular parts 13 all-d1?) can be made separately and secured together in any preferred way. In the upper part of the tubular standard 13 there is placed a thimble 14. This thimble preferably consists of a separate piece of It has a tight fit with the into its position under pressure. It has a central cylindrical aperture and its upper surface is cut away to form a V-shaped recess 14, as shown in Fig. 6 In the upper end of the standard part 13 is loosely fitted a plug-like part 15, the lower end of which is formed to be V-shaped in-vertical cross section,. as shown at 15, Fig. 5. The V- shaped projecting bottom part of this plug fits snugly into the recess 14 in the upper part of the thimble or shoulder piece 14.

16 is a shaft arranged vertically within the standard 16. It passes through the central vertical aperture in the abutment block 14, and at its upper end it has a'key 16 which looks it to the plug part 15. This shaft 16 at its lower end is preferably enlarged or is provided with an'elongated cylindrical part 18 in which are formed gear teeth. 17 is a springginterposed between this part 18 at thelower end of the shaft and the stationary thimble or shoulder piece 14. 19 is a short vertical shaft mounted in the tubular standard 13 At its upper end it has a pinion 20 whose teeth mesh with those on the wheel-like part 18 of shaft 16. At its lower end the shaft at 19 has attached to it the inner end of a crank arm 21, the latter at its outer end being pivotally connected to the aforesaid operating rod 12.

Theupper end of the part of-the shaft 16 supports, a. fork, the vertical legs of which are indicated by 24. Each of these is carried by or supported from a horizontal arm, one indicated by 24 and the other by 24". The arm 24 is grooved longitudinally, and the arm 24 'is rabbeted in such way that the central' part fits in the groove in the part 24*.

These two arms are thus held in line, but

they can be adjusted laterally as required and after adjustment they canbev clamped rigidly in position by means of the nut 25, the shaft 16 being shouldered to form areduced shank which passes through the slots in the arms 24 and 24 and the nut 25 en-' gaging with the upper end of this reduced shan Each of the lamps with'its set ofattachments is similar to the other with the exception that but one of them, preferably the i right hand one is provided with the operating gears and ever. The abowe description of one'of'the sets of devices issufficient' for both. They are connected bv a rod 23 extendin across the front ofthe machine and pivota y joined at each end to a crank arm 22 extending backward from the shaft 16. Each arm 22 is,.provided with ears 22?, 22

which embrace one of the arms 24and thus serve to lockthe arm 22 against angular movement with respect to the other arms. The two ears 22, 22 also serve to prevent any spreading of the two parts of the re-' spective arms 24, 24. Preferablyeach arm 2.21s provided with several apertures. In

its rear outer end the rod 23 can be connected in any one of these apertures as desired. It sometimes happens that the lamp brackets are set 'so close to the radiator that there is not room for the movement of the arm 22 when'the arms are of full length. In such a case the rod 23 can be connected in the inner holes, and the rear outer ends" of the arms 22 can be cutloif. I

From the above description of parts and their arrangement it will be seen that when the driver operates the starting mechanism to turn the front wheels 3 in either direction he correspondingly turns the lamp system. \Vhen power is transmitted through 'the rod 12 and the crank 21 to the shaft 19, the latter in turn, through the pinion 20 and wheel 18, commences to rotate the vertical shaft 16. This is accompanied by a slight raising of the shaft becauseof thejcam action of the inclined surfaces 14 and 15*. This results in an increasing of the compression of spring 17 and holds all of the relatively movable parts adjacent to the lamp firmly in position and prevents rattling and vibrating. Not only does the spring hold the parts against vertical vibration but it alsov holds them against oscillatory vibration. The cam action of the two surfaces 14 and 15* tends at all times to return the lamp supporting parts to their normal central positions and the result is that this turning tendency is transmitted to the gears and to all of the operating connections. Any possible lost motion in any of the joints or connections is taken up; and as all of the parts are transmitting force, relative vibration between any of them is prevented.

It will be noted that I have combined with the automatic-centering vibration-preventing parts which cause rising and falling of the 'lamp spindle, a car operating means whichv does not inter ere with the vertical movement. Gear 18 is made long so that it can rise and fall and still remain in'mesh withthe pinion. 20 which isfixed: against vertical movement. In this way I- am en-.

abled to combine all of the advantages of the rising and falling spindle and ofthe gear against turning relatively to each other. It-

frequently happens because of proximity to the radiator or to the mud guard that a lam is so positioned that it cannot be, turne When this occurs the entire lamp can be moved bodily to the necessities of the case and brought into such .position that free turning can be effected. Furthermore the arms are relatively adjustable so as to be adapted for lamps of different sizes.

outward or inward according What I claim is:

1. In a vehicle of the class described, the combination with the frame, the steering mechanism, the lamp, and the rotatable and vertically movable lamp-carrying spindle, of the spur gear on the spindle in permanent working relation therewith as it moves vertically, a second spur gear mounted in fixed position on the main frame and held in permanent mesh relation with the spur gear on the spindle," and operating connections between the second gear and the steering mechanism and mounted in fixed positions on the frame.

2. In a vehicle of the class described, the,

vertically movable lamp-carrying spindle, of the spur gear on the spindle having relatively'elongated spur teeth and held in fixed working relation with the spindle, a second spur gear mounted in fixed position on the main frame and having relatively short teeth held in permanent mesh relation with the gear on the spindle, and operating connections between the fixed gear and the steering mechanism and mounted in fixed positions on the frame.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses. LEO JOSEPH WVOGENSTAHL. WVitnesses:

J. M. MoILHANNx,

R. C. WADE. 

